Ineedhelp

My husband got off work early yesterday, so I immediately grabbed our bikes and got him to go ride with me! While riding to the trail, I spotted a rummage sale with at least 2 dozen bikes, and so we stopped, just on the off chance there might be something worth taking a look at--if I could get him on any kind of road bike, I'd just know I'd have a convert.

Walking up to them though, they were almost all Huffys in god awful shape, but there were a couple of old Schwinns that I thought might have a few parts I could use for mine. As I was looking at them, the guy running the sale came up to my husband on his mountain bike and said to him, "You need to get her a really GOOD bike, like yours!"

I was in shock! My Airborne titanium bike wasn't good enough for him? So I turned around and said, "Excuse me, but this is a very good road bike!" The guy snickered, and turned and picked up my bike, shook it a few times and sneered, "It's pretty heavy for a road bike, isn't it?"

I was a little annoyed, and responded, "It's got 2 bags, and 2 waterbottles on it right now, but at 17 pounds, it certainly weighs less than any of your Huffys!"

The guy ignored me, because he was busy admiring hubby's 50 lb mountain bike, and exclaimed, "Wow! Would you look at those disc brakes! You're a SERIOUS rider, aren't you?"

My husband's still laughing.

Can anyone suggest any better way I could have responded to this **** ?

(***insert obscene insult of your choice here.)

twahl

Don't let ignorance get you down. I'd rather ignorant people not know the value of my bike, let them think that Huffy is worth stealing.

Jakey

"My bike might not be that nice....but at least I'm not you"

zelah

"My bike costs more than your house"

'nother

I bet on huffyforums.net there's some guy saying, "so this total poseur comes up to my garage sale trying to say how much better her overpriced fancy-schmancy road bike is than my trusty ol' Hufster, what an arrogant *****!"

Who really cares? Just ride. It ain't about the bike . . .

Ineedhelp

There's a huffyforums.net?

racer102

i hate ignorant people. My friends all just have like bmx bikes and i ride into town because i can never get a ride in so they make fun of my bike. I just laugh and say screw you

slvoid

My other road bike that I use for commuting has full fenders and disc brakes, problem solved.

Patriot

Are you a fast rider? If so, you should've challenged him. He can ride one of his old Huffy's.

Nothing funnier than watching some moron get his arse beat by a little lady on a Ti machine. As you fly away ahead of him mashing that wrought iron POS, you can give him the ol' "lick the finger and sizzle on the butt signal".

nova

Heh i know what you mean. Im a little lax to realy do my bike up with a fancy paint job as it is now its ugly and looks like its worth a couple bucks. A perspective theif would pass it over to steel a huffy sitting 20 feet a way with a prety paint job. So im gona paint it this winter i think so i can set up something to be able to bring it in ev night after its been painted.

As for the yard sale idiot ignore him or tell him the bikes he has you could fold in half with little efort.

SDRider

Tell him he's an idiot and ride off? I would never do this of course but it would be nice wouldn't it?

Man, stupid people should just keep their traps shut.

Dchiefransom

Invite the guy on your next century, or 300 km brevet, and tell him to ride one of those bikes.

TheDTrain

You shoulda done this:

1. Get off your bike.
2. Take off your non writing hand glove.
3. Go up to Hufster.
4. Slap him with the said glove.
5. Exclaim these words "Sir, you have insulted my honor, I challenge you to a race."
6. Smoke his sorry ass, that assfoe.

nova

My friends kid wanted a road bike (hes like 7 to small even for the smallest road bike we could find. So i fitted a 5 speed free wheel to his bmx's hub never thoguth it would fit on the drop outs but by god it did. We found some jr sized road bike bars a shifter set etc. So now he has a 20 inch road bike. Ill try to get pics before they move it was a red line bmx so its not all that bad a bike. Sence it had free style tires on it that were all but slicks any how its just a fat tired road bike.

Ineedhelp

I'm not that fast...yet! But thanks to my new bike, and lots of helpful advice from this forum, I'm getting there!

For example, I have just learned the joys, and benefits of "spinning" to significantly increase my speed by 3-4 mph already. Previously, I thought the best way to ride was to stay in the highest gear possible, and downshift only for climbing. The spinning technique doesn't really work on my old Schwinn, while it works beautifully on my new bike, so yes, I'd have to say to a certain extent that it IS the bike!

I'm not as upset that this guy insulted my bike, as I am that he completely undermined my efforts to get my husband thinking about getting a road bike--which would substantially increase the chances that I could talk him into group rides, tours...and maybe even training for competition?

Dchiefransom

Can you ride faster on your roadie than your husband can on his bike? Is there anyone with a road bike that your husband can test ride to see the difference?

Serpico

you should've set your output to 400w and dropped that senile fool!

puddin' legs

Do Huffy riders ever insult my road bike? The bigger question is why would I care if they did?

late

Stupidity is infinite. Only thing to do..if you want to teach him a lesson... is to invite him on a ride. A real hard one.

Ineedhelp

No, I can't ride faster than him, and it seems, neither can anyone else. Ever since I learned about the term "dropping" here, now, every time a guy in a jersey rides past and "drops" us, my husband gives me one look, and races off to "drop" them. After doing so, he then waits about a mile or two up the road for me to catch up. He's fast.

I don't even know fast he is now because he won't even put a computer on his bike to find out, but when he comes back from riding with all the young guys from work, they're huffing and puffing, and he's laughing and calling them "old". He actually thinks he's faster on a mountain bike. No, he's just a big, strong guy, and even though they may ride road bikes and hybrids, their bikes aren't higher end, and they don't ride that much.

If he does this on a mountain bike, wearing hiking boots and regular pedals, what might he be capable of on a road bike and proper gear? Since getting my new bike, he's more interested, and rides a lot more with me because he can get a decent workout now. If we trained together, how much more could I do? This is something I'd like to find out.

Ineedhelp

I have thought about getting my husband some skinnier, slick tires for his mountain bike and see whether that would help inspire him. There is no need for big, fat, knobbies on the trails we ride--and he's never gone mountain biking in his life! I haven't found any though that fit on his rims, and it's not feasible to change the rims because of the disc brakes.

SDRider

See, I have have the opposite problem. I can't get my wife on a road bike...

Flaneur

I keep thinking about respraying my 1971 Flying Scot but why draw attention to it? It's kinda old-fashioned looking and doesn't have much stuff on it. Only one speed- and you can't even take a rest downhill.

The way it looks kinda discourages interest- and I like it that way. Only one person riding it, enjoying the supple ride, sweet bearings and silent progress.................

Prince9931

(***insert obscene insult of your choice here.)


Dude is a monkey!!!!!!

chipcom 

I never judge potential speed by the bike one is riding. I remember a younger feler who pulled out from a trail onto the road in front of me once. He was on a mountain bike and doing a surprisingly fair clip, so instead of passing I just grabbed his wheel for a spell. After about half a mile he turns back and is obviously surprised to see me there, so he turns on the heat. I stayed with him for about a mile, my computer said we were doing about 28mph...until he kicked it up another notch and dropped me like hot rock. I figured, 'fine, he'll bonk in a few miles and I will just cruise on by'....after another 5 miles he was just a speck in the distance ahead of me and still pulling away. I think that was the day I lost any remaining ego I might have had. ;-)